Major League Baseball’s latest collective bargaining agreement is getting its first test this offseason. It passes only if 50 percent is a passing grade in this course.

The new rules, which come complete with a stiff luxury tax for any club whose payroll exceeds $189 million, is designed for two main purposes:

1) To encourage all clubs to compete for talent and equalize competition.

2) To discourage the richest clubs, especially the Yankees, from going on annual mid-winter spending sprees and helping themselves to every player who interests them.

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I think it’s fair to say that objective No. 1 has become a reality — at least this season. Twenty-five of the 30 major league clubs have acquired at least one new player through free agency. The Marlins, Pirates, Astros and Mets, among others, have signed players.

Robinson Cano, probably the most sought-after free agent of the season, landed with a middle-market franchise in Seattle, rather than one of the glamorous big-money teams.

That’s the 50 percent that appears to be working.

But is the $189 million threshold really going to restrain the Yankees? The Yankees promised that it would, but actions clearly speak louder than words, and the Yankees appear to be operating without many financial restrictions.

Yes, the Mariners out-bid them in their effort to retain Cano, but they cushioned the blow effectively when they reeled in center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury, probably the second best player on the market. They also signed Brian McCann, the best catcher on the market, and Carlos Beltran, a veteran outfielder who might well be on his way to the Hall of Fame.

With these additions, remaining within the luxury tax limitation won’t even be a possibility unless two things happen:

1) An arbitrator must rule that Alex Rodriguez will be suspended for all or most of the 2014 season.

2) Some other club must sign Japanese pitcher Masahiro Tanaka.

Both are complicated issues, but the Yankees have no input into the former and appear determined to do all they can to make sure the latter doesn’t happen.

Rodriquez, scheduled to earn $25 million next year, was handed a 211-game suspension by MLB last August for his alleged role in the Biogenesis scandal in Miami. Proclaiming his innocence, he has taken the matter to arbitration.

The ruling, expected to be handed down shortly, could uphold the full suspension, reduce the number of games or overturn it entirely. Whatever happens, it will have a significant effect on the Yankees’ payroll since a player is not paid while he serves a drug-related suspension.

But if the suspension is for less than a full season, the Yankees’ payroll will be impacted. If Rodriguez should be suspended for, say, 100 games, the Yankees would have to pony up more than $9.5 million for the 62 games for which he would be eligible.

Tanaka is the 25-year-old right-hander who was 24-0 for the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles of the Japanese Pacific League. The Golden Eagles have agreed to “post” him, meaning any major league team can offer $20 million for the right to sign him.

That entails a new rule. In the past when Japanese players were posted, the posting fee was an auction, with the winning team acquiring exclusive negotiation rights with the player. Beginning this year, the Japanese have agreed to cap the posting fee at $20 million, which means the auction will be for the player’s services. Tanaka is free to accept whatever package he prefers, and it appears a near certainty the Yankees will make a very generous offer.

The ultimate cost of signing Tanaka will probably be about the same under the new rules as it would have been under the old ones. The difference is that all but the posting fee counts as salary, and that’s “only” $20 million. The rest will count against the team’s payroll.

The Yankees might try to convince Tanaka to take a back-loaded deal that defers the heaviest part of his salary, but they can’t possibly back-load it enough to hold their payroll under $189 million.

If the Yankees sign Tanaka — and probably even if they don’t — the new Basic Agreement between the players and the owners has to settle for offseason grade of 50.